Movie Review: "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

[Bob Pr.]

Our monthly domestic film series at Endacott Society (ES = retired university peeps) presented "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" today -- 1939, B&W, 2 hrs. 9 min., genres: comedy, drama. Stars: Jimmy Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Raines; director: Frank Capra. 11 Oscar nominations, 1 win (original writing/story). Ranks #131 of IMDb's all-time best ever 250 films. On IMDb's 10 point scale, 75,700+ voters rated it 8.3 of 10 stars. I'd not ever seen it before and thought it was very interesting (my vote: 8 of 10).

The plot deals with a young, honest man ("Smith"/Stewart) who's appointed to fill the unexpired term of one of his state's US senators after that man unexpectedly died. That senator was allied with others sponsoring a federal dam project in an area of his state where they secretly owned a lot of land that would have to be bought and reward them handsomely; "Smith" doesn't go along with their secret deal which makes him a target to politically eliminate. After some realistic struggles, there's an (IMO unrealistic) happy ending. But it's a worthwhile film to see and, in the present US time/era, fairly pertinent.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) - IMDb

[Mr Kleb]

A very enjoyable movie, one I thought featured the idealism found in many of Frank Capra's movies.
-----------------
Maybe we should have a regular 'Movie Review' feature thread in which people could discuss movies.